The new record state surplus numbers are indeed "historic" and "unprecedented as the headlines shouted. But is a historic opportunity to use that money for maximum impact passing us by? With the state continuing to rank at the bottom of the barrel nationally and no politicians of note willing to step up and say how that can be reversed with this ongoing record-setting revenue, it appears so.

Gov. Lujan Grisham has presided over healthy increases in the state buget the last several years of this ongoing oil boom but much of the money went for hefty pay hikes, increases across the board in state agency budgets and taxpayer rebates. She has offered no comprehensive overview of what the money--now headed for $14 billion in annual revenue with a state budget of $9.5 billion--of how the cash can deployed to address our entrenched and challenging problems. In fact, she rarely mentions the state's often pathetic standing.

In reaction to the announcement Wednesday by the Legislative Finance Committee of even more gargantuan surpluses, she came with this:

Now that we have all the money in the world can't the Fourth Floor come up with something stronger than than nothing burger? 

But the Guv's not alone. The common reaction to the vast treasure coming out the the Permain Basin oil fields again surfaced the long-held fear that leading state officials seem to have over the surplus. They simply can't shed their poverty mentality to take a risk-on attitude and dig deep down and start coming up with something imaginative to improve the quality of life here. 

State Senator and Senate Finance Committee Chairman George Munoz:

We know nothing lasts forever, George. But is that all you got? What about the deep-seated problems of the Native Americans in your district? As for the "reliance on oil and gas, the day that ends the state's bounty ends. It's futile to talk about the end when you are letting the present and future slip from your grasp. 

Farmington GOP Senator Bill Sharer sees it this way:

There they go again. Caught in the past and scared sh...less. And this from a senator who represents San Juan, one of the few counties in America that has been losing population due to the terrible economy there. 

Said Wayne Probst, the new secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration:

Thanks for stating the obvious, Wayne. But where's the plan? 

And we did pick up the irony of this place being called a "safe place" as the crime scourge, the fentanyl madness and the property crime continues pretty much unabated. Why is that, Mr. Secretary? Because we aren't generating sweeping ideas to become something better? (Bingo!)

The new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Nathan Small of Las Cruces, must be reading Wayne's notes:

Uh, Mr. Chairman, based on billions in surplus forecast for the next two budget years and the billions already accumulated in reserve from the past several years of the oil boom, we have the means to begin our best efforts to achieve that "broad prosperity." Please. Don't embody the ghost of John Arthur Smith. Not with these numbers. But do give us your plan. 

On it goes. The political class is fine owning the mountainous pile of money but does not want to be associated with any failures of policy and therefore won't put side by the side the state's dismal rankings and those historic funds.

Perhaps it's time for one of those sometimes dreaded Blue Ribbon Commissions. How about a panel of imaginative and deep-thinking citizens convening for a couple of months specifically chartered with assessing the state's bottom of the barrel rankings and offer specific programs and solutions that might--just might--make a dent in them? 

Right now New Mexico is like one of those billion dollar lottery winners. They're shocked, scared and unable to sort out the meaning of it all.